No. 10 U-M needs OT to get past Minnesota in Big Ten tourney

Published 12:00 am, Friday, March 9, 2012

Perhaps more surprising than the score was the fact that U-M's senior guards, Zack Novak and Stu Douglass, were both scoreless. But Novak hit some 3-pointers down the stretch as the Wolverines forced overtime, where Douglass hit his first buckets, and U-M held on for a 73-69 win.

"They do a really good job flying at me and they're so athletics and long," Novak said of Minnesota's defense. "For me, I struggled a little bit just getting it over them. But thankfully, there at the end, (guards Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr.) were so hot that I was freed up a little bit and knocked them down."

For the first 36 minutes of the game, only three players had made a field goal for U-M: Burke, Hardaway and center Jordan Morgan. Burke actually scored 13 of U-M's first 16 points and finished with 30 -- a career-high and Michigan record in the Big Ten Tournament. It also was a Big Ten record for a freshman in the tournament.

It was an ugly first half for U-M (24-8 overall, 13-5 Big Ten). Minnesota had doubled-up the Wolverines on the boards, had nine offense rebounds and Hardaway had just two points. But Burke carried U-M through the first half. When these teams met in Ann Arbor on Jan. 1, Burke scored a then-career-high 27.

"The story just keeps going on, because I feel like sometimes I'm talking to a senior," U-M head coach John Beilein said. "He is talking to me in the game about things that he thinks we can use in our offense. It's a wonder to have a guy that understands basketball at 19 years old, as a freshman, like he does."

In the second half, Hardaway woke up, scoring all 11 Michigan points in the first five minutes. Hardaway finished with 20 points, 18 of which came after halftime.

But the lack of balance in Michigan's scoring was a problem, and the Gophers (19-14, 6-12) stuck around. Then they took the lead. A high-flying fast-break dunk from Minnesota's Rodney Williams gave the Golden Gophers a 54-45 lead with 4:37 to play. The contingents of Michigan State and Ohio State fans were cheering for 10th-seeded Minnesota to pull of the upset of second-seeded U-M.

After a layup by Burke, Novak hit a wide-open 3-pointer off a pass from Burke with 3:35 to play -- his first points of the night. Novak hit another with 1:12 to play, cutting Minnesota's lead down to three points. The Wolverines had the ball and a chance to tie in the final seconds, when Douglass found Evan Smotrycz -- who also hadn't scored all game -- for a wide-open, game-tying 3-pointer to send the game into overtime.

The game had been dominated by Burke and Hardaway, but U-M's final nine points in regulation came from guys who hadn't scored all game.

"We maintained our composure the whole game," Burke said. "Once they went up, we just continued to huddle up every chance we got and kept telling each other we weren't going to win it on the offensive side. It was going to be the defensive side that was going to help us come up with the win."

The Wolverines opened overtime on an 8-1 run, with five points coming on Douglass' first two buckets of the game. The Gophers cut the lead down to two points twice, but Michigan made its free throws to secure the comeback win, to the delight of the large crowd of U-M fans that traveled down to Indianapolis.

"I'm really proud of our guys (for) the way we fought back," Beilein said. "I thought if you watched our team on the floor, there was always poise."

Michigan shot just 38.9 percent in the first half, but followed that up with 52 percent in the second half and 66.7 percent in overtime -- finishing at 49 percent for the game. The Gophers had 12 more rebounds and one more made three-pointer than U-M, but also had 16 turnovers, compared to nine for the Wolverines. Minnesota shot 45.3 percent for the game.

With Friday's win, the Wolverines advanced to the semifinals for the second straight season. Michigan also moved to 10-2 this season in games decided by six points or less or in overtime. Despite the late deficit, the Wolverines never faltered, knowing they had been in the same position earlier in the season.

"We're not afraid of these type of moments, we just keep on fighting and let the (game) come to us and take what the defense gives us," Hardaway said.

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Novak credited the "back-to-back" drills U-M ran early the season as the reason the Wolverines have so much confidence down the late stretches of games. In the drill, a single score on offense or stop on defense doesn't count. It has to be done back-to-back times.

"I think that's really what's propelled us to, no matter what's happening in the game -- we're not making shots or they've exploited us on defense -- for whatever reason, that last four minutes comes and we become different people, I think," Novak said. "Everyone's locked in. We've been on it."